The Archie Sale Highlights the Contradictions and Traps of Digital Comic Sales

We’ve all figured out a person has to do their homework when buying digital comics, right? Especially when they’re on sale.

Right now there’s a big Archie sale going on at Amazon and Comixology that illustrates how much you need to pay attention more than most.

Here’s what you need to know about it.

There are two parts to it – digital trade paperbacks and single issues.

The digital trade paperbacks are only on sale at Comixology, but the singles are at both Comixology and Amazon.

It’s cheaper to buy the single issues.

It doesn’t always work that way, but sometimes you need to check on it. Especially if the digital TPBs aren’t highly discounted and are thin, while the single issues are 99¢. Let’s break down how this one works:

Let’s breakdown the math on a few items of interest. As far as I’m concerned, Archie’s best series in recent memory has been a crime/vigilante comic called The Black Hood. The digital TPB price on sale at Comixology is $5.99. Here’s the curveball – the Comixology listing says it contains issues #1-5, but I’ve got the print edition in front of me and it contains #1-6. If it really contains 6 issues, then you’re a paltry nickel cheaper buying the single issues. However, if the digital version really does contain only 5 issues, then you’re saving $1.04 buying the singles. That’s almost a 20% discount. (From here on out, I’ll be linking to the less expensive single copies.)

Afterlife With Archieis another very good title. That’s the Archie vs. zombies one (no, really — it’s better than that tagline). The first digital TPB is listed at $7.99 for issues #1-5. Or you could get the singles for $4.95. $3.04 savings, not quite 1/2 price… of the sale price.

You see the single issues vs. collected edition pricing every now and then, so keep that in the back of your head when shopping. As for the split between Amazon sales and Comixology sales? You wouldn’t think it would happen as much as it does under the same ownership, but it does.

Todd Allen wears a lot of hats. At various times he's been (alphabetically), a bouncer, college professor, humor columnist, Internet producer and an NBA/WNBA Beat Writer, among other things. He's the author of Economics of Digital Comics. You should probably read it.